The National Nutrition Council (NNC) is facing criticism for hiring 94 Contract of Service (COS) and Job Order (JO) workers to perform administrative, clerical, and technical functions, which should be carried out by regular personnel. This hiring practice is in violation of the rules and regulations outlined in the COA and DBM Joint Circular (JC) No. 2, s. 2020. This is based on the recently published audit report of the Commission on Audit on the agency’s transactions.
COA and DBM JC No. 2, s. 2020 provides specific guidelines for the engagement of COS and JO workers in the government sector. However, an evaluation of the NNC’s compliance with this issuance revealed several deficiencies. The individual COS/JO workers engaged by the NNC do not meet the criteria outlined in the circular.
According to Section 7 of COA and DBM JC No. 2, s. 2020, “hiring under COS should be limited to consultants, learning service providers, and technical experts for special projects” or jobs that are not part of the agency’s regular functions. Similarly, JO workers should be hired for emergency or intermittent work that does not fall under the agency’s regular functions. Additionally, COS and JO workers should not perform functions that are already part of the job description of regular employees.
However, the evaluation of contracts and the observation of the functions performed by the COS/JO workers at the NNC indicate that they are engaged in tasks that are integral to the agency’s day-to-day operations. This directly contradicts the limitations set forth in the joint circular. COA questions NNC for its “high reliance on engagement of COS/JO workers despite having vacant plantilla positions”.
Furthermore, despite having 36 vacant plantilla positions, the NNC heavily relies on the engagement of COS/JO workers. Out of a total of 126 plantilla positions, 36 remained unfilled. To compensate for the lack of regular employees, the NNC hired 94 COSs/JOs to perform essential clerical, administrative, and technical functions.
The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that the NNC has a limited timeframe for engaging individual COS/JO workers. According to COA-DBM JC No. 2, s. 2020, as amended by COA-DBM JC No. 2, s. 2022, new COS/JO workers can be engaged through individual contracts until December 31, 2024. After this date, the engagement of COS/JO workers must comply with the provisions of the joint circular.
The NNC is urged “to develop a realistic succession plan, wherein plantilla position vacancies are anticipated with sufficient qualified personnel available to apply for said vacancies”. The transition from individual COS/JO workers to outsourcing services through institutional COS is recommended to facilitate the gradual transfer of institutional knowledge.
Additionally, the NNC should “consider programs, projects and activities (PPAs) for career development, not just of regular personnel but also COS/JO workers such as agency sponsored trainings/seminars for CSC eligibility examinations and leadership training, so that next-in-line personnel are eligible when the higher positions are declared vacant”.
The Commission on Audit has emphasized the need for the NNC to address these concerns promptly to avoid hampering agency operations due to a severe lack of manpower. Failure to comply with the regulations and implement appropriate succession planning measures may lead to the loss of institutional knowledge currently held within the agency.
